Videocast as a reflection of cross-cultural communication. Advertising international brands: case study

Nissan strives to use globally accepted images in the video commercials to avoid ambiguity, but still preserves traditions when creating an advertisement for a particular country to suit cultural realms. However, such avoidance of ambiguity is not reflected through the variety of images and details in commercials, but rather reflected in exclusion of those. Nissan tends to portray unproblematic characters with minimum personality, stereotypical characters to some extent. Scripts are simple in the majority of videos, except for the Chinese and American ones, where distinctive personalities and features are clearly visible.

Overall, Nissan tends to unite commercial content for certain regions of the world, less attention is payed to culturally charged details. Functional appeal of the brand's commercials is in the suggestive and pragmatic argumentation, as Nissan focuses more on the creation of a highly positive association with the brand and demonstrating features of the product.

Apple results

Apple always sticks to an analytical and low-context approach in commercial materials: text is straightforward, visuals are object-oriented and explicit, as well as the nonverbal component of people's communication in videos. Culturally charged videos slightly differ in terms of presentation, for instance, Singapore's advertisement is created through a story, rather than just a report with a voiceover. This brand's commercials represent a quite interesting example of marketing strategy for an international corporation. Rather than adapting to cultural style of video advertisement creation in a certain country, Apple adapts cultures to their corporate style of commercials. This unfolds not only through the visual component, but also through the issues that Apple chooses to address in advertisements.

Apple creates culturally charged commercials, but chooses unusual topics and specific scenarios. Despite these commercials being a demonstration of product's features, the focus shifts from the item to culture. When creating content for certain territorial realm, Apple targets not only the country demonstrated, but the whole world, as their main aim is mostly to spread awareness on certain issue or educate people on cultural peculiarities.

Apple's advertisements are suggestive, as marketing specialists aim to create a positive association with both products and Apple brand in general. Strategy of involving culturally diverse characters and utilizing globally acute issues makes Apple's corporate style distinctive and adds to the positive image of the corporation all over the world.

Corporate style versus Cultural representation

After conducting analysis of commercials of the three brands-participants, a certain tendency became visible. All three brands have their own corporate styles when creating commercial video materials, the aspect of style consists of several aspects: most commonly used images, holistic versus analytical approach, characters and models involved, scripting. Corporate style is especially important in the age of rapid development of international market and growth of competition on global arena. Corporate style makes brand recognizable and creates associations in the minds of their audience.

Corporate style of all the brands involved prevails over cultural peculiarities, however, there is a difference in how this two aspects merge together in the process of advertisement creation. The following classification can be designed: corporate style recognizable and aligns with cultural features of the target country, corporate style recognizable and doesn't aligns with cultural features of the target country, corporate style somewhat recognizable and not fully aligns with cultural features of the target country. IKEA represents the first type of brands, as the vast majority of commercials are created specifically for certain regions and illustrate values and routine of cultures. Moreover, the visual style of IKEA's commercials somewhat adapts to the needs of the target audience. IKEA has a variety of images and scripts that are commonly used in their advertisements, however, those are always portrayed through the cultural lens in order to create relatable and recognizable scenario and setting. Even though the majority of IKEA's commercials are more holistic in terms of frames filling and scenarios: detailed environment, creation of a story, which represents brand's corporate style, all the settings come across as highly realistic for every target culture. On the contrary, Apple represents the second type, corporate style recognizable and doesn't aligns with cultural features of the target country - Apple chooses to put their own corporate features before cultural differences and peculiarities. They stick to a policy of unification and create one variation of advertisements for all the countries. There is a considerable advantage in such a strategy: production of global commercials creates a strong image of the brand all over the world. Wherever clients see the commercial they instantly have an association with Apple, that is a good illustration of how boosted suggestive function works. To create positive association with the brand, it is efficient to create commercials in the same style regarding both visual materials and scripting. Apple is a world-famous company, absence of culturally charged commercials does not deter audience from buying their items and supporting the brand overall, as Apple users are considered one of the most loyal on the market. If speaking of Nissan, the company doesn't have a unique or highly recognizable corporate style, as their commercials mostly consist of similar shots of stock videos of urban areas and natural landscapes, however, corporate style can be traced through commercials created for certain regions: Asia and the US. Cultural features are included in the script in order to avoid false representation, however, those are never included for the sake of creation of a highly realistic scenario or setting. Nissan uses pragmatic argumentation in their commercials, so that the audience understand the benefits of the product and are aware of the main features of the product.

Answering the question posed in the research, all the brands-participants create culturally charged commercial video content, however, there is a significant difference in the percentage of culturally adapted materials. IKEA creates highly realistic national commercials for target countries and manages to merge own corporate style with cultural values and images. On the contrary, Nissan follows a rather safe path: they adapt only where it is needed, they create more international commercials for joint areas, like Scandinavia and Europe. However, there are regions where Nissan's marketing specialists choose to indulge cultural preferences, for instance, in creation of outstanding US advertisement of Nissan cars. Interestingly, approximately 95% of Apple's video commercials are not adapted to cultural realms, they use the same visual sequence and only translate message to target language. Such approach works perfectly for creating a strong image of the brand. However, Apple still created culturally charged content and used acute topics and culturally important themes for such videos. Moreover, absence of serious adaptation to cultural realms doesn't affect company's popularity on the international market. Global commercials produced by Apple for at least 3 years demonstrate the importance of a corporate style and possibility to expand own corporate culture over the cultural features of various countries without any serious damage for the company.

5.2 Limitations

In the following part of the thesis the limitation of the present study will be discussed. Limitations will be divided into several sections.

Literature.

Existing comparative analyses of commercials mainly consists of the outdated sources, as marketing communication and advertisements styles of companies can change annually. Therefore, there is lack of similar and related relevant research to base the classification and research questions upon. Modern circumstances make it difficult to compare present study to others to make certain standardized assumptions.

Sample of video materials.

The sample of video commercials also has certain limitations. There is a difference in the presence of all the brands-participants on YouTube platform. Both Apple and IKEA have a policy of regularly updating their video materials on all the official channels, however, Nissan appears to be not as represented on social media. Some channels, as, for example, Nissan India, doesn't update the video collection on a regular basis, therefore, Nissan's commercials were not represented fully on the platform.

Another limitation of sample regards the number of video materials. IKEA posts more than 50 videos on every channel every year, therefore, due to the time limits all the videos could not be analyzed and included in the research. Moreover, the videos were chosen in accordance with the topic and the range of the product. Therefore, it is possible to collect a relatively more representative sample for similar research.

Measuring tools and data interpretation.

Overall, the models and tools implemented in the study are the ones presented by the western scholars. Even though Hofstede and Nisbett provide a thorough analysis and multisectoral research of both Western and Asian cultures, there still is a possibility of certain bias in the research based upon their studies. Moreover, in the process of data interpretation certain degree of subjectivity is possible, in particular, interpretation of scripts and underlying symbols while decoding the message in the commercials.

Strengths of the study.

Despite present study having certain limitations, there are advantages of the research that can be mentioned. Current study represents a relevant research of the modern tendencies in the sphere of commercial video production of the global brands. The video used in commercials are dated from 2018. Notably, this study includes companies from different regions of the world: Europe, the US, Asia, hence, the research covers cultures of diverse nature and behavioral patterns. Moreover, the research not only includes the content analysis of script and values involved in promotion process, but is also concerned with the visual component: frame filling and settings created for the advertisement. Current case study included video materials created for diverse countries and the sample of video advertisements is highly representative in terms of cultural diversity.

5.3 Future Research

After analyzing all the limitations of the present study, the following prospect for further research can be proposed. First, the sample of video materials can be extended in future research: more categories of advertisements could be included, as well as a broader range of target countries in each category of topic.

Taking into consideration the primary category of brand, sample of companies can be differentiated in the following ways. First, future studies can collect a sample of brands of the same origin country to conduct a representative analysis regarding whether the origin culture influences the degree of adaptation of commercial materials to suit particular territorial realms among target countries. Second, in the present study brands with different specializations were chosen, hence, the analysis of dependency of adaptation to cultural features and company's specialization could be conducted.

Moreover, a thorough analysis of nonverbal communication in advertisements can be provided in future research, as in this study nonverbal communication factor was involved superficially to add to the decoding of the script and symbols in commercials.

Conclusion

Present research focused on the commercial video materials produced by international brands for diverse countries and aimed to examine the degree to which international brands adapt their advertisement strategies to cultural realms of different target countries. Brands expand to new markets rapidly in the age of globalization and strive to distribute internationally. Marketing specialists understand that commercial videos are one of the most effective ways to advertise the product and raise the awareness of it among clients, as nowadays visual promotion on television and via internet are the key sources to reach broader audience. Marketing scholars mention the benefits of creating national advertisements and promoting products through cultural values of particular regions. However, the present study revealed another variable important for successful advertising: recognizable corporate style in video advertisements serves to create a strong image of the company. Importantly, it is vital for the brand to design a unique corporate style in order to stay competitive and relevant on the international market, however, ability to skillfully merge corporate style and cultural features in video commercials adds to the over positive image of the company all over the world.

Not all the brands focus on creating unique and culturally charged video materials for all the target countries, as for example, IKEA does in the majority of advertising campaigns. IKEA in their advertisements not only represents cultural values of own origin country, Sweden, it also strives to include behavioral patterns and traditions important to target countries when starting to expand to new market. Moreover, IKEA follows the same visual and script patterns that represent brand's corporate style and efficiently mixes it with all the culturally charged details.

There is a contrasting case of Apple and its global commercials. Despite them creating similar content for all the countries, Apple is one of the most popular companies in the world. Apple understands the importance of a strong brand's image and emphasizes this exact aspect to promote the product. Taking into consideration statistics on customer loyalty of Apple Inc, this strategy comes across as a highly effective one.

Overall, global brands adapt different strategies when advertising a product, contrary to Bernadskaya's statement in year 2020 there is no vital need to advertise only through including culturally charged content into commercial videos. There are other crucial factors that highly influence consumer loyalty and attention. Positive associations with the brand can be achieved through other tools, as for instance, strengthening of corporate style and making it recognizable and pleasing for people all over the world.

In future research the importance of recognizable and unique corporate style and its efficiency in different countries can be examined. The following conclusion can be drawn after conducting the analysis in present study - culturally charged commercials still represent a popular strategy for international brands when advertising in other countries and regions, however, nowadays not all companies indulge cultural features and choose other effective advertising strategies in creation of commercial content.

References

1. Ang L. (2014). Principles of integrated marketing communications. New York: Cambridge University Press.

2. Astrada M. (2008). Conceptualizing American power and security in a post-9/11 security context: conflict, resistance, and global security, 2001-present. FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations.

3. AtKisson A. (2000). The Right Amount.

4. Barber B. (1995). Jihad vs Mc World: How Globalism and Tribalism are reshaping the world. Ballantine Books: New York.

5. Bearden W., Madden S., (November 1, 1996). A brief history of the future of advertising: Visions and lessons from integrated marketing communications. Journal of Business Research. 37 (3): 135-138.

6. Belk R.W., Pollay R.W. (1985). Americanization in Print Advertising: An Historical Comparison of Japanese and U.S. Advertising Since 1945," in C.T. Tan, J. N. Sheth (Ed.), Historical Perspective in Consumer Research: National and International Perspectives. Singapore: Association for Consumer Research.

7. Bernadskaya J.S. (2007). Osnovi reklami: uchebnik dlya vuzuv pod. red. L.M. Dmitrievoi [In L.M. Dmitrieva (Ed.) Foundation of Advertisement], UNITY DANA.

8. Birdwhistell R.L. (1952). Introduction to kinesics: An annotation system for analysis of body motion and gesture. Louisville, KY: University of Louisville.

9. Biswas A., Olsen J.E., Carlet V. (1992). A Comparison of Print Advertisements from the United States and France. Journal of Advertising, 21(4), 73-81.

10. Chatman J., Barsade S. (1995). Personality, Organizational Culture, and Cooperation: Evidence from a Business Simulation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 423-443.

11. Copi I.M., Cohen C., Flage D.E. (2006). Essentials of Logic (2^nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

12. Danna S. (2002). Classified Advertising. The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising. New York: Routledge. p. 325.

13. Dentsu Inc. (1978). Marketing Opportunities in Japan. Berkshire, England: McGraw-Hill Book Company (UK) Limited.

14. Durkheim E. (1951). Suicide, a study in sociology. J.A. Spaulding, G. Simpson (Ed). London Routledge.

15. Efron, D. (1941). Gesture and Environment. Kings Crown Press.

16. Ekman, P. (1999). Emotional and conversational nonverbal signals. Gesture, Speech, and Sign, 45-55.

17. Esfeld M. (1998). Holism and Analytic Philosophy. Mind, 107(426), 365-380.

18. Faiola A., Macdorman K.F. (2008). The Influence of Holistic and Analytic Cognitive Styles on Online Information Design: Toward a communication theory of cultural cognitive design. Information, Community & Society, 11(3), 348-374.

19. Forsyth D.R. (2009). Group dynamics (5th ed.). Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole.

20. Fukuyama F. (2008). Trust: The Social Virtues and The Creation of Prosperity. Moscow, AST: AST MOSCOW.

21. Galvin G. (1998). The impact of target market on developing a culturally diverse audience. Business Administration, Marketing, 52.

22. Hofstede G. (2001). Culture's consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

23. Hofstede G. (Ed.). (1998). Cross-cultural psychology series, Vol. 3. Masculinity and femininity: The taboo dimension of national cultures. Sage Publications, Inc.

24. Hofstede G., Hofstede G.J., Minkov M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. Revised and Expanded 3rd Edition (3d ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.

25. Hofstede, Geert (1984). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills CA: SAGE Publications.

26. Hong J.W., Muderrisoglu A., Zinkhan G. (1987). Cultural Differences and Advertising Expression: A Comparative Content Analysis of Japanese and U.S. Magazine Advertising. Journal of Advertising, 16(1), 55-68.

27. Hung K., Tse C., Cheng S. (2012). Advertising Research in the Post-Wto Decade in China: Meeting the Internationalization Challenge. Journal of Advertising, 41(3), 121-145.

28. Imai M., Gentner D. (1994). A cross-linguistic study of early word meaning: Universal ontology and linguistic influence. Cognition 62, 169-200.

29. Kirkman, B., Chen, G., Farh, J., Chen, Z., & Lowe, K. (2009). Individual Power Distance Orientation and Follower Reactions to Transformational Leaders: A Cross-Level, Cross-Cultural Examination. The Academy of Management Journal, 52(4), 744-764.

30. Kjeldgaard D., Askegaard S. (2006). The Glocalization of Youth Culture: The Global Youth Segment as Structures of Common Difference. Journal of Consumer Research, 33(2):231-247.

31. Lewis R.D. (1996). When cultures collide: Managing successfully across cultures. London: N. Brealey Pub.

32. March J.G., Olsen J.P. (1975). The Uncertainty of the Past: Organizational Learning Under Ambiguity. European Journal of Political Research, 3: 147-171.

33. Marsh R. (2019). Social Trust in Japan and Taiwan: A Test of Fukuyama's Thesis. In Sasaki M. (Ed.), Trust in Contemporary Society (pp. 210-230). Leiden; Boston: Brill.

34. Masuda T., Nisbett R.E. (2001). Attending holistically vs. analytically: Comparing the context sensitivity of Japanese and Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 922-934.

35. Mehlika F. (2013). Economic Globalization and Culture: A Discussion with Dr. Francis Fukuyama. Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

36. Mindy F.Ji., McNeal J. (2001). How Chinese Children's Commercials Differ from Those of the United States: A Content Analysis. Journal of Advertising, 30(3), 79-92.

37. Miyamoto Y., Nisbett R.E., Masuda T. (2006). Culture and physical environment: Holistic versus analytic perceptual affordance. Psychological Science, 17, 113-119.

38. Muzikant V.L. (1998). Teoriya i praktika sovremennoy reklamy: uchebnoye posobiye po bazovomu kursu "Pablik rileyshnz" i "Reklama� [Theory and practice in modern advertisement: base coursebook for �public relations� and �advertisement�]. Moscow: Eurasian region.

39. Nisbett R.E. (2004). The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently ... and Why. New York: Free Press.

40. Sasaki, M. (Ed.). (2019). Trust in Contemporary Society. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

41. Simmons L., Schindler R. (2003). Cultural Superstitions and the Price Endings Used in Chinese Advertising. Journal of International Marketing. 11. 101-111.

42. Sknarev D.S. (2014). Krosskulturny faktor i yazikoviye sredstva sozdaniya obraza v reklamnom diskurse [Cross-cultural factors and linguistic means of creating an image in discourse of advertising]. South-Ural State university. (1), 250-259.

43. Smith P. (2006). When Elephants Fight, the Grass Gets Trampled: The GLOBE and Hofstede Projects. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6), 915-921.

44. Sternberg R.J. (2009). Cognitive Psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. pp. 578.

45. Stewart E.C. (1972). American Cultural Patterns: A Cross- Cultural Perspective, Chicago: International Press.

46. Stewart, R.W. (1941). Imagery For Profit. New York: The New York Times.

47. Taylor R.E., Hoy M.G., Haley E. (1996). How French Advertising Professionals Develop Creative Strategy. Journal of Advertising, 25(1), 1-14.

48. Vasilyev G.A. (2004). Osnovy reklamnoy deyatel'nosti [Fundamentals of promotional activities]. Moscow: Unity-dana, 414.

49. Webster, C. (1997). Resource Theory in a Cultural Context: Linkages between Ethnic Identity, Gender Roles, and Purchase Behavior. Journal of Marketing, Theory and Practice, 5(1), 1-6.

50. IKEA UK. (2019, November 7). IKEA - Silence The Critics - TV Advert 90 #WonderfulEveryday. [Video file].

51. IKEA Malaysia. (2017, January 6). Prepare For A Legendary CNY. [Video file].

52. IKEA Russia. (2019, November 14). ��� ����� ����� � ����!. [Video file].

53. IKEA Russia. (2020, April 14). ����� ����� ����. [Video file].

54. IKEA Singapore. (2020, April 2). Making Home Count. [Video file].

55. IKEA �esk� republika. (2020, March 26). U�ijte si sv�j �as doma. [Video file].

56. IKEA Greece. (2020, April 13). ����������� ��� ����. [Video file].

57. IKEA USA. (2019, April 13). IKEA 365+ Food storage you can depend on. [Video file].

58. IKEA Taiwan �˼ҼҾ�. (2018, April 10). IKEA 365+���r��ϵ��ӰƬ. [Video file].

59. IKEA Austria. (2019, July 8). IKEA 365+ - Vorratshaltung. [Video file].

60. IKEA Malaysia. (2019, September 8). The IKEA 365+ Collection. [Video file].

61. IKEA Saudi - ����� ��������. (2019, May 8). ������� ������. [Video file].

62. IKEA France. (2019, October 25). IKEA Place � la cr�ativit� 30s. [Video file].

63. IKEA Switzerland. (2020, November 29). IKEA: anzich� cercare, trova.. [Video file]. IKEA Taiwan �˼ҼҾ�. (2020, March 4). IKEA ������ÿ��g�V��ӰƬ���f��Ҋƪ��������. [Video file].

64. NISSAN RUSSIA. (2020, April 24). �������� ����. ������ ��������. #������������ #stayhome. [Video file].

65. NISSAN South Africa. (2020, April 5). Stay Home. Stay Safe, South Africa. [Video file].

66. NISSAN. (2020, April 7). Nissan Lebanon - Stay Home. [Video file].

67. NISSAN USA. (2020, April 20). Nissan | Help When You Need It | Responding to Coronavirus (COVID-19). [Video file].

68. NISSAN South Africa. (2019, December 4). Break Free with Nissan X-Trail. [Video file].

69. NISSAN Deutschland. (2018, October 4). 1 Tonne Nutzlast und 3,5 Tonnen Anh�ngelast sahen noch nie so gut aus: Der NISSAN NAVARA N-GUARD. [Video file].

70. NISSAN RUSSIA. (2019, November 29). Nissan X-Trail. ���� �������. ���� �����������. [Video file].

71. NISSAN RUSSIA. (2020, April 2). ����`��������Family Drive��ƪ 03. [Video file].

72. NISSAN USA. (2020, March 6). All-New Nissan Sentra | Refuse To Compromise. [Video file].

73. NISSAN USA. (2019, October 11). 2020 Nissan Altima | Be There. [Video file].

74. NISSAN USA. (2018, July 31). Nissan X-Trail Accessories: Boost your interior. [Video file].

75. NISSAN South Africa. (2020, January 22). The new Nissan Navara Stealth. An Intelligent 4x4. [Video file].

76. Ads China. (2018, December 24). 2018.12 NISSAN ALTIMA Commercial TVC China/�����ղ����ߴ���������. [Video file].

77. NISSAN�ծb�Ԅ�܇��ʽ����. (2018, July 31). ����I�� TVCM ���Ԅ��\ܞ�Εr���ء�ƪ 30��. [Video file].

78. NISSAN Deutschland. (2018, July 15). Der neue NISSAN LEAF: Finde die perfekte Balance zwischen elektrisch und praktisch. [Video file].

79. Apple United Kingdom. (2020, April 15). The new iPhone SE -- Apple. [Video file]

80. Apple Singapore. (2020, April 15). The new iPhone SE -- Apple. [Video file].

81. Apple ��. (2020, April 15). iPhone SE - Apple. [Video file].

82. Apple ���ѹα�. (2020, April 15). ���ο� iPhone SE - Apple. [Video file].

83. Apple Singapore. (2020, March 19). iPhone 11 - Night mode - Apple. [Video file].

84. Apple ���ѹα�. (2020, March 8). iPhone 11 - �߰� ��� - Apple. [Video file].

85. Apple Deutschland. (2020, March 12). iPhone 11 | Nachtmodus. [Video file].

86. Apple Singapore. (2020, January 12). Chinese New Year | Shot on iPhone 11 Pro -- Daughter. [Video file].

87. Apple M�xico. (2019, June 21). Tomado con iPhone XS - Las Cholitas Voladoras - Apple. [Video file].

88. Apple Deutschland. (2019, November 9). Aufgenommen mit dem iPhone 11 Pro - Berliner Mauerweg - Apple. [Video file]

��������� �� Allbest.ru